LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 

Shelf...rR.13 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



/ 



PRIMA ARBORUM 




Copyright, 1887, sy FRANCIS H. LEGGETT & CO. 



OLIVE GROVES, MONTEMAGNO. (PISA HILLS.) 



PRIMA ARBORUM 



SOME ACCOUNT OF THE OLIVE-TREE AND ITS FRUIT. 



Olea prima omnium arborum est. — columella. 



SAMUEL RAE & CO. 



Historical Notes. 

THE olive is supposed to have been 
introduced into Italy about the year 
550 B. c. The ancients had a special 
veneration for this useful tree, which, 
according to mythology, sprang from 
the earth at the command of Minerva 
and was held sacred to this deity. L. 
Junius Moderatus Columella, who wrote 
on agriculture in the early years of the 
Christian era, calls it ''the chief of all 
trees." 

Linnaeus named the olive olea eiiropcea 
and considered it to have been indige- 
nous to Europe and Africa ; while other 
writers attribute its origin to Asia, 
whence it is supposed to have been 
brought to Attica, about i 5^6 b. c, by 
Cecrops, who also taught his subjects 
to cultivate it. Pliny says that the ol- 
ive was not known in Italy, Spain, or 
Africa in the time of the first Tarquin. 



At first its cultivation would appear 
to have spread slowly in Italy, for under 
the consulate of Appius Claudius and 
Lucius Junius, about 248 b. c, olive oil 
must have been an article of luxury in 
Rome, selling as it did at twelve asses 
the libra; hut one hundred and eighty 
years later it had fallen to a tenth of its 
former value, a sign that the production 
must then have been large ; while un- 
der the fourth consulate of Pompey, 
Rome exported olive oil to her subject 
provinces. 

TheEtruscans, during their independ- 
ence, do not appear to have cultivated 
the olive, for they are said to have im- 
ported olive oil from Greece. 

Lucca and Populonia, the latter an ex- 
tinct Etruscan city which was situated 
near the present town of Piombino, are 
mentioned as the localities in Tuscany 
where the olive was first planted. Li- 
guria is said to have been the last region 



4 



SAMUEL RAE & CO. LEGHORN, TUSCANY. 



in Italy to cultivate the olive ; Strabo 
describes it as a wild and mountainous 
country dependent upon lower Italy 
for supplies of wine and olive oil. 

Some Figures. 

In Italy the extent of land devoted to 
the culture of the olive is stated to be 
about two and a quarter million acres. 
A full crop of oil is estimated at about 
eighty-nine and a half million gallons, 
thus apportioned: 
Liguria or Riviera, extending 

along the coast line from 

the French frontier to Massa 

Carrara 9,100,000 

Lombardy, Venetia, Emilia 

and the Marches. . . . 2,200,000 

Tuscany 7,300,000 

Umbria and Latium . . . 6,300,000 

Bari 7,800,000 

Neapolitan provinces on the 

Adriatic, exclusive of Bari 14,900,000 
Neapolitan provinces on the 

Mediterranean .... 16,800,000 

Sicily 19,300,000 

Sardinia 5,600,000 

Gallons .... 89,500,000 

Thus it will be seen that the greatest 
production of olive oil is obtained in the 
Neapolitan provinces and Sicily, though 
at the same time these regions, with the 
exception of Bari, produce oil of low 
quality. 

In practice, however, a full crop of 
oil is rarely approached, nor, consider- 
ing the many and exceptional vicissi- 
tudes to which the olive crop is exposed, 
is this much to be wondered at. 

The following are the official returns 
of the production of olive oil through- 
out the Kingdom during the last seven 
years. 



Actual Olive Oil Production of the 
Kingdom of Italy. 



Year. Gallons. 

1880 86,000,000 

1 88 1 , . . . . 34,600,000 

1882 ..... 56,800,000 

1883 ..... 41,300,000 
1884 46,800,000 

1885 . . . . . 47,000,000 

1886 ..... 64,300,000 



An average of about fifty-four mill- 
ion gallons. 

Spain, as an olive oil producing coun- 
try, comes next in importance to Italy, 
though a long way behind ; while 
France in this respect is at a great dis- 
advantage compared to both, her pro- 
duction of olive oil being a fraction of 
what Italy produces, and quite insuffi- 
cient for her own consumption. Hence 
France is obliged to draw large supplies 
of this article from other countries and 
chiefly from Italy, her total imports for 
the last five years having averaged over 
seven million gallons. 

Next to France, Great Britain is Italy's 
best customer for olive oil. Exports 
to the United States are relatively small 
and chiefly of the better qualities of oil. 
This trade, however, is certain to de- 
velop, as the universal tendency is to 
import commodities direct from the 
country of their production. 

The total exports of olive oil from 
Italy for the last ten years have averaged 
about twenty million gallons. Hence 
the consumption in Italy must greatly 
exceed these figures. 

The Tree. 

The olive is an evergreen tree of slow 
growth, its wood is hard and compact, 
the leaves lanceolate, silvery and downy 



OLIVE-TREE BY GATEWAY OF LA CERTOSA. (CALCL) 



6 



SAMUEL RAE & CO. LEGHORN, TUSCANY. 



underneath ; whence, viewed from 
a distance and especially when the 
leaves are moving in the wind, an olive 
plantation acquires a grayish tone. The 
fruit as it begins to ripen assumes a 
ruddy hue and when quite ripe is of a 
dark plum color, almost black, and 
glossy. The ripe pulp is of a creamy 
color. 

In Italy the blossoming takes place 
between April and June ; but generally 
it has been found that a late blossom- 
ing means a poor crop ; for though the 
show of flowers may be fine, they do 
not bind. The flowers are very small, 
of a pale yellow, and grow in clusters 
of ten or fifteen ; but of this number 
not more than a third or a fourth come 
to maturity. 

Climatic Conditions. 

The olive-tree needs a warm but tem- 
perate climate : excessive heat and 
excessive cold are both injurious. In 
the tropics it has been observed that 
although the tree vegetates, it bears no 
fruit, and in North Africa olives are to 
be found only near the shores of the 
Mediterranean, where the heat is tem- 
pered by sea-breezes. 

Excessive cold will kill the tree; the 
lowest temperature which the olive can 
bear is 14^ Fahrenheit. At 12° not 
only the foliage, but the trunk and sur- 
face roots perish. But when rain is 
followed immediately by frost, and 
particularly while the sap is rising in the 
trees, even at 20° Fahrenheit, great 
damage may be done. The same result 
occurs after a fall of snow when bright 
sunshine causes a partial thaw, followed 
by frost after sunset ; the effect of ex- 
treme cold on the olive-tree varying 
according to the dryness or dampness 



of the atmosphere at the time, and the 
season of the year ; so that extreme 
cold is more fatal tothe tree in the spring 
than in winter. 

In localities where the temperature 
in summer is very high, it is customary 
in planting olives to select a northerly 
exposure ; butin Tuscany and generally 
in central Italy, the reverse is the case, 
and warm, sheltered localities are 
chosen. 

The olive in hilly country gives better 
results than in the plain, where it is not 
possible to obtain the finest qualities 
of oil. Too rich or too moist a soil is 
unfavorable ; a sheltered hill-side best 
suits it and a medium soil. The olive 
likes a subsoil of rock ; its roots seek 
out any clefts and fissures and inter- 
twine themselves around any loose 
fragments of rock, thus affording secu- 
rity to the tree during the prevalence 
of high winds. 

In central Italy the olive is not to be 
found at a greater elevation than about 
fifteen hundred feet, and at this altitude 
its productiveness is very uncertain. 

Cultivation. 

In some parts of Italy the olive-tree 
is planted in rows far apart, and the 
intervening space devoted to vines and 
grain, or other crops ; but much the 
better plan is to plant olives by them- 
selves, as generally practiced in the best 
olive districts of Tuscany, where the 
culture of this tree has attained the 
greatest degree of perfection. The olive 
is pruned at intervals of two years, 
during the months of February and 
March, and manured generally every 
three years. 

It may be propagated by seed, cut- 
tings, shoots, or ovoli. Seedlings are 



SAMUEL RAE & CO. LEGHORN, TUSCANY. 



7 



hardy and acclimatized to the locaHty 
where -they are raised, but of slow- 
growth. Hesiod says that he who sows 
the ohve will not eat of the fruit of it. 
Plants obtained in this way invariably 
revert to the wild variety, as indicated 
by their very narrow and pointed leaves, 
and therefore require grafting. 

Though the wood of the olive is very 
hard, yet cuttings properly planted will 
throw out suckers very readily ; a cir- 
cumstance to which Virgil calls attention 
in the lines : 

''Qiiin et caudicibus sectis, mirabile dictu 
Truditur e sicco radix oleagina ligno." * 

The cuttings should be two or three 
feet long, a couple of inches in thickness, 
and straight. 

Neither this method of propagation, 
nor that by shoots taken from the 
parent tree, are much resorted to, ovoli 
being generally preferred by olive-grow- 
ers as an easier, simpler, and generally 
more satisfactory method. The term 
ovolo, from ovo, an egg, is given to 
those egg-shaped excrescences which 
appear on the trunk of the olive-tree 
near its base and on its large exposed 
roots. The ovoli are carefully excised 
from the tree and bedded ; when shoots 
appear, the strongest is selected, the 
others being removed. At from four 
to seven years old the young trees may 
be planted out." 

Vitality. 

Under favorable circumstances the 
olive attains to a great longevity and 
may continue to bear fruit for centuries. 
Pliny mentions that in his time there 
were to be seen at Liternum, a town in 

* And moreover, wonderful to say, if the stems 
are cut into lengths an olive-root is thrust forth 
from the dry wood. — Georgic, L. II. 30. 



the Roman Campania, olive-trees which 
Scipio Africanus had planted 250 years 
before. In the island of Pianosa, off 
the coast of Tuscany, are to be seen 
some thousands of trees, of the semi- 
wild type, still thriving, which are said 
to have been planted there seven centu- 
ries ago or more. The olive near the 
gate-way of the Certosa monastery at 
Calci, shown in one of our illustrations, 
is many centuries old, and continues in 
its prime, not showing any signs of 
decay. In the olive wood on the hill- 
side close by, formerly the property of 
the monastery, there are many trees, 
from three to four centuries old, which 
are still in full bearing. Some of the 
Saracenic olive-trees of Sicily are of very 
great age and extraordinary size ; the 
trunk of one was found to measure 
twenty-six feet in girth, according to 
Prof. Aloi, who also states that some 
of these trees are known to have pro- 
duced nearly twenty-eight bushels of 
olives each at a crop. 

But in the aggregate the life of the 
olive-tree is estimated at from 100 to 
1 50 years. 

Its Enemies. 

Frosts, as we have seen, are very de- 
structive ; many trees are blown down, 
a circumstance arising from the fact 
that olives are often to be found in hilly 
localities. The tree is subject to at- 
tacks from a variety of insect pests, 
some of which injure the leaves, others 
the fruit, branches, or trunk. Amongst 
the worst of these may be mentioned 
the cossus ligniperda, which, however, 
does not confine its ravages to the olive- 
tree. In its grub state the cossus is 
provided with powerful mandibles and 
eats its way into the heart of a tree, 
causing its ultimate destruction. 



8 



SAMUEL RAE & CO. — LEGHORN, TUSCANY. 



Then much damage is caused by a 
species of canker to which the name 
lupa, or she-wolf, is given. An olive- 
tree to outward appearance quite sound 
may be internally rotting away. The 
remedy for this disease is to cut away 
carefully all the part affected ; hence 
trees are often to be seen whose trunks 
are reduced to mere skeletons, as shown 
in another of our illustrations. Yet 
in this condition the olive may hold on 
for years. 

Several insects attack the fruit of the 
olive, but the worst of these is the 
olive-fly, miisca daais olece. The rav- 
ages caused by it in Italy are incredible, 
and may amount to some millions of 
dollars in a season ; hence it is the 
bugbear of the olive grower. This 
insect is about half the size of the com- 
mon house-fly, the head is orange- 
colored, eyes green, back grayish, the 
wings are transparent, and in the sun- 
shine iridescent. When the young 
olives are fully formed, the female com- 
mences its operations puncturing the 
fruit and then laying an egg therein. 
It is estimated that a single fly may 
thus deposit three to four hundred 
eggs. The egg develops into a small, 
white maggot, which eats its way with- 
in the olive and around the stone until 
it thus destroys the greater part of the 
pulp. Passing next into the chrysalis 
stage, in the course of a few days it de- 
velops into a fly. 

The olive-fly usually makes its appear- 
ance in July, and as only about four 
weeks elapse between the laying of an 
egg and the development of a new fly, 

* Emile Negrin, "Guide de Nice." ''The 
olive-tree once used to produce olives, now it 
produces only keirons ; the keiron is a mischiev- 
ous maggot, which by dint of eating up the 
olive berry ends by taking its place. Mon- 



there is ample time for a succession of 
these destructive operations before the 
approach of cold weather reduces it to 
inactivity. Enormous injury has thus 
been caused to many a splendid crop of 
olives. The damaged fruit yields little 
oil and of very bad quality — rank, thick, 
and nauseous. As yet no means of 
coping with this insect have been found. 
It has been suggested that the destruc- 
tion of small birds in Italy, and particu- 
larly in Tuscany, which feed upon such 
insects, may partially account for the 
great prevalence of the musca olece. 

In the Nice district its ravages are no 
less redoubtable. ' ' L'olivier produisait 
autrefois des olives, il ne produit plus 
maintenant que des keirons ; le keiron 
est un mechant ver qui, a force de 
manger I'olive fmit par la remplacer. 
Monsieur Cauvin a eu beau rediger une 
brochure contre Tinsecte, Tinsecte ne 
continue pas moins a ruiner les pro- 
prietaires, en attendant que les proprie- 
taires se decident a ruiner et les oliviers 
et les keirons." * 

In a severe season considerable dam- 
age may also be done to the fruit by a 
hard frost, particularly if preceded by 
snow or rain. The damaged fruit gives 
a diminished yield of oil, and this ac- 
quires a darkish color and an unpleas- 
ant taste. 

Varieties of the Olive-Tree. 

There are in Italy many varieties of 
the olive, but the precise number has 
not been ascertained, the same kind 
often going by another name in differ- 

sieur Cauvin might have saved himself the trou- 
ble of writing a treatise against this insect, for 
none the less does the insect ruin the land-own- 
ers, pending a decision on the part of the land- 
owners to destroy both olive-trees and keirons." 




OLIVE-TREES INJURED BY LUPA. 



SAMUEL RAE & CO. LEGHORN, TUSCANY. 



ent localities. In Tuscany alone some 
twenty varieties were at one time 
known, but of late years growers, in 
planting and grafting, have confined 
their choice to a few of the better de- 
scriptions of trees. In selecting these, 
due regard must be had to the special 
conditions of the locality where new 
trees are to be planted or existing ones 
grafted. Those kinds which most ap- 
proximate to the wild olive are much 
the hardier and will thrive where the 
choicer, but more delicate, sorts could 
not live. 

The various kinds of olive-trees may 
be thus classified : 

First. Trees but little removed from 
the wild olive, of stunted growth and 
scanty foliage, leaves small ; fruit 
small and deficient in pulp, yielding little 
oil, which moreover is rough and some- 
what bitter to the taste, hence consid- 
ered at the best a second-rate quality. 
This class of tree is hardy and the fruit 
is less liable to be attacked by insects 
than the more pulpy kinds, but beyond 
this it has nothing to recommend it. 
The Moraiolo olive, which is to be found 
in certain parts of Italy and is largely 
cultivated in Provence, France, owing 
to climatic conditions, is a type of this 
class. 

Second. Trees of much greater size 
than those just described, with dense, 
dark-colored foliage, leaves large, fruit 
big, with abundant pulp (much used 
for pickling, for which purpose it is 
picked green, first placed in a lye and 
afterward in brine), but the oil it yields 
is coarse and heavy. This class is very 
sensitive to frost, liable to many dis- 
eases, and requires a rich soil. It is 
largely to be found in the south of Italy ; 
the Spagnuolo or Spanish olive is a 
type of it. 



Third. The third may be described 
as an intermediate class, possessing to 
a considerable degree the good quali- 
ties of both the foregoing classes with- 
out any of their bad properties. The 
trees of this class thrive in hilly districts 
with a medium soil and temperate 
climate. They attain a considerable 
size and are well covered with dark- 
colored foliage. The fruit is well de- 
veloped and yields the finest oil. The 
Ra:{^lo olive, which is par excellence the 
type of this, the best, class of olive- 
tree, prevails almost to the exclusion 
of other varieties in the districts of 
Lucca and Pisa, in Tuscany, famed for 
their oils. It is also to be found to 
some extent, along with similar but 
still inferior varieties, in the districts of 
Bari, Riviera, and Nice. 

The Harvest. 

In the south of Italy the olive har- 
vest begins about October; in Tuscany, 
fully a month later ; but it is never in 
full swing until near the latter part of 
December. According to the extent of 
the crop it may not be finished until 
March or even latere Sometimes the 
last of the olives are not picked until 
so late as May or June. 

In some localities the practice is to 
strip the trees of their fruit, either by 
knocking it off with staves — which is 
injurious to the tree, as along with the 
fruit leaves and twigs are torn off — or 
by the more rational method of pick- 
ing the fruit by hand, when the boughs 
which are not accessible from the 
ground are reached by men and boys 
with ladders. Where this system is 
followed, the harvest may be com- 
pleted within January or February, or 
sooner with a short crop. 



SAMUEL RAE & CO. LEGHORN, TUSCANY. 



Elsewhere the olives are gathered as 
they fall to the ground from ripeness, 
or are blown down. After a high wind 
the turf beneath the olive-trees is often 
strewed deep with olives. Where fine 
oil is made, the olives are quickly gath- 
ered up by women and taken at once 
to the olive mill, and a selection is 
made of the sound and unsound fruit. 
Should the fruit remain any time on 
the ground, it deteriorates greatly, pro- 
ducing defective oil. 

Yield of Oil. 

The yield of oil obtained from a 
given weight of olives ranges between 
fourteen and twenty per cent., accord- 
ing to the ripeness and variety of the 
fruit ; eighteen to twenty per cent, is 
obtained from fine olives of the best 
sort. 

Taking an olive plantation in Tusca- 
ny, where the trees are well grown and 
in full bearing, it is estimated that, in 
a good season, the return of oil should 
average from one to one and one-half 
gallons per tree. As a rule, a tree 
which has a good show of fruit will 
in the ensuing season carry little or 
none. 

Ripe and Unripe Fruit. 

The oil obtained from unripe fruit is 
of a greenish shade and has a rough, 
peppery taste. Over-ripe olives yield 
a very pale oil, deficient in flavor, 'and, 
if not already rancid, liable to become 
so very soon. It stands to reason that 
the best oil should be that obtained 
from olives which have just attained 
the proper degree of ripeness. Such oil 
is of a fine golden color and possesses 
a delicate taste of the fruit. 



Fine and Common Oil. 

There are of course in olive oil, as in 
any other product of the soil, many 
degrees of fineness ; but, broadly stated, 
the difference between fine and common 
olive oil, as these terms are understood 
in Tuscany, is due to the condition of 
the fruit when pressed and to the 
diligence used in the process of oil- 
making. 

To obtain fine oil, the fruit must be 
sound, freshly gathered, and promptly 
crushed and pressed before any fermen- 
tation can ensue. Moreover, a supply 
of pure water is indispensable, and 
the mills, presses, and various utensils 
required must be absolutely sweet 
and clean, while a constant attention 
to details is essential. 

Common oil is the result of the ab- 
sence of one or all of these conditions. 
In those districts of south Italy and Sic- 
ily where common olive oil is largely 
produced, hardly fit for anything but 
manufacturing purposes, even should 
the olives be sound when they leave 
the tree, they often lie on the ground 
for a considerable time from want of 
hands to gather them. More often still, 
the fruit is kept for some weeks before 
being crushed, in the mistaken belief 
that the fermentation which ensues 
causes an increased yield of oil. 

Cato, writing more than a century be- 
fore Christ, inhistreatise "Dererustica," 
combats this very notion, ' ' It is not to 
be believed,'' he says, ''that oil increases 
(by keepingtheolives)inthe store-house; 
but ratherthat it diminishes and becomes 
of the worst quality." Columella pro- 
nounced it ' ' as unfounded as that wheat 
could increase in the granary." Not- 
withstanding, this fallacy is still enter- 
tained in some sections of southern 



12 



SAMUEL RAE & CO.— 



LEGHORN, TUSCANY. 



Italy and Sicily, as well as in other olive- 
growing countries. 

The result is a fetid oil, of low com- 
mercial value. With the increasing 
competition of cheap seed oils, olive 
growers will probably find themselves 
compelled to abandon such bad practice 
and to endeavor to produce a better arti- 
cle. It must be added, however, that 
in the localities where these common 
oils are produced they are actually used 
for food, and even preferred, by certain 
classes, to fine oil, their very rankness 
seemingly imparting additional zest. 
Thus an Italian writer says: "If you 
give to a peasant in Puglia or Cambria 
a plate of cooked vegetables dressed with 
Tuscan oil, he will not relish it, but will 
pronounce it insipid, without smell or 
flavor. Such is their taste. Common 
oil, which our palates would pronounce 
to be uneatable, has its admirers." 

There are many grades of common 
olive oil ; all are* bad, but some much 
worse than others. The olive oil pro- 
duced in Morocco, Algeria, Tripoli, Tu- 
nis, Syria, Asia-Minor, Greece, Spain, 
and Portugal is all of it, more or -less, 
common, but yet it is largely, used in 
these countries for food. 

Olive Oil Making in Tuscany. 

In Tuscany, where the aim is to pro- 
duce olive oil as fine as possible, the 
greatest attention is given to the proc- 
ess of making it. Factories, meaning 
by this term something analogous to 
the cheese factories of America, are 
unknown, nor would they be at all 
desirable. Olives will not bear trans- 
portation to any considerable distance. 
The less they are handled, the better for 
the quality of the oil : the bruising and 
heating of the fruit, incidental to trans- 



porting it any distance, would ruin the 
quality of the product. Thelarge olive 
growers have their own mills ; the 
smaller growers take their olives to 
some neighbor's mill, there to be pressed 
in their presence ; the oil as it is pro- 
duced is taken away and the refuse of 
the olives is left to the mill-owner in 
payment of his dues. 

The modus operandi is as follows : 
The olives, as soon as gathered, are 
brought.to the frantoio, — so the mill is 
called. Storage is generally provided 
in an upper floor, where the olives are ' 
spread out until ihey can be crushed ; 
but they are never allowed to remain 
longer than twenty-four hours, because 
olives, particularly if wet when brought 
in, rapidly get mildewed, and the oil 
made from them would be bad. 

The mill-trough (pila) is built of cut 
stone cemented externally ; it is essen- 
tial that the stone used' for this purpose, 
as also the millstone, should be non- 
absorbent, lest becoming saturated with 
oil, which would become rancid in time, 
a bad taste and smell should be commu- 
nicated to the product. A silicious con- 
glomerate rock is much employed for 
these uses. Olive mills are most fre- 
quently worked by water power ; where 
this is not available, by animals, gener- 
ally oxen. 

About ten bushels of olives are crushed 
at a time, the operation lasting about an 
hour. Pulp and stones are crushed to- 
gether; the pasty substance resulting is 
next placed in flattish, circular recepta- 
cles, termed bruscole, made from a kind 
of rush, and tied at the mouth with a 
horse-hair cord. When full, ten or 
twelve of these bruscole are put in the 
oil-press, the number which it can hold 
being termed the castello. 

Cold water is poured upon the brus- 



GATHERING OLIVES, 



SAMUEL RAE & CO. — LEGHORN, TUSCANY. 



cole to facilitate the flow of oil ; hot 
water would be much more efficacious 
and increase the yield, but then the 
quality of the oil would suffer. The 
oil and water which serves to collect it 
pass into the tinello, a receiving vessel 
which standsclose by the oil-press ; from 
time to time the oil is skimmed off with 
a shallow pan and transferred to the 
chiaritoio, therein to settle, before it can 
be considered salable, or fit to be put 
into the coppajo, the oil-store, so named 
from the large terracotta jars (coppi) in 
which olive oil is generally kept in the 
country districts. 

This first pressing of the olives alone 
yields the finest oil — virgin oil it is 
sometimes called. Too much stress 
cannot be laid upon having a constant 
supply of pure, fresh water; without 
it the product is sure to be tainted ; and 
the prevalence of olive oils with this de- 
fect is in great part attributable to this 
cause. It is equally essential that the 
mills, presses, and other utensils should 
be kept thoroughly clean and sweet ; 
any neglect of this rule will render the 
product defective. 

Treatment of Residue. 

The water which has been the medium 
for collecting the oil as it issued from 
the oil-press necessarily contains a 
trifling quantity of oil, which, however, 
in the course of the season, amounts to 
something considerable. It is therefore 
conducted to a large tank, placed at 
somedistance from the/f^;7/o/o, to which 
the suggestive name of inferno is given, 
doubtless because it is the receptacle of 
the dregs. A film of oil gradually forms 
on the surface, which is skimmed off 
from time' to time; but the stagnant 
water gives this oil a bad smell, and olio 



d' inferno, as it is called, is fit only for 
industrial purposes. 

The inferno is always located away 
from the mill, lest any smell from it 
should communicate itself to the fine 
oil, which is very susceptible of being 
tainted by anything of the kind. Care 
must be taken lest any utensil which has 
served for olio cV inferno should inad- 
vertently be made use of in handling 
fine oil ; for the latter would become 
tainted, a few drops of the refuse oil 
in question being enough to ruin a large 
quantity of fine oil. 

A small quantity of oil of an inferior 
kind is obtained by a second pressing. 
The olive paste is again ground in the 
mill with the addition of some hot 
water, and pressed as before. If this 
be done immediately after the first 
pressing and before the paste can fer- 
ment, the oil may be fairly good, 
though deficient in ''body." But if 
delayed at all, then the oil becomes 
absolutely bad. • 

Even after these two pressings the 
sansa, as the residue after being pressed 
is called, contains some oil. This can 
be extracted in two ways, but in both 
the oil obtained is fit only for manufact- 
uring purposes. It may be treated in 
the frullino mill; first well ground with 
the addition of hot water, thence passed 
into an agitator, where the residue is 
heated up with water until the broken 
olive stones, washed quite clean, fall to 
the bottom, while the refuse of the pulp 
floats on the surface ; then by two sep- 
arate conduits the stones are discharged 
in one direction, the water and matters 
held in suspension flowing into a series 
of settling tanks, where any free oil 
comes to the surface and is collected, 
while the residue of the pulp is again 
pressed and yields a little oil. Olio la- 




FRANTOIO. (EXTERIOR.) 



i6 



SAMUEL RAE & CO. — LEGHORN, TUSCANY» 



vato, or washed oil, is the name given 
to this product. 

Or the sansa may be treated by the 
sulphide of carbon process, which is car- 
ried on at special factories. This chemi- 
cal, in a fluid state, has a great affmity 
for oil, and on mixing up a certain pro- 
portion of it with the olive residue, any 
oil present unites itself to the sulphide 
of carbon . The compound is then trans- 
ferred to a covered tank and heated up 
to about 1 1 50 Fahr., when the sulphide 
evaporates and is collected in a refriger- 
ating vessel for further use, while the 
oil remains behind. This oil is nearly 
black and has the characteristic smell of 
the chemical employed ; it is of less value 
for industrial uses than the oil obtained 
by the fruUino process. But this sys- 
tem has the advantage over the latter of 
extracting every particle of oil, the yield 
of oil from the sansa by the sulphide 
process averaging ten per cent., by 
weight, of the material treated ; while 
in the other way it is only about half as 
much. 

Olive Stones. 

As for the debris of the olive stones, 
it makes a good fuel ; and this was 
supposed to be all it was fit for. But 
recently a novel use for it has been dis- 
covered by some smart and not too 
scrupulous traders, namely, as an adul- 
terant for ground pepper. Many tons of 
this material pulverized have been ex- 
ported from Italy, to England chiefly, 
and undoubtedly for this very purpose. 
The following extract from the London 
Times, for Febuary 18, 1887, refers to 
this illegitimate trade: 

Pepperette. — Numerous prosecutions, our 
Liverpool correspondent writes, have recently 
taken place in various towns in Lancashire for 
the sale of adulterated pepper, and the magis- 



trates have inflicted fines varying in amount 
from 20s. to 5/. and costs. The cases themselves 
were of an ordinary character, and in most 
instances it v/as proved that the retailer had 
received the pepper as genuine from the whole- 
sale grocer or the manufacturer, and that he had 
sold it just as it came into his possession. That it 
was adulterated to the extent of twelve or twenty 
per cent., however, was proved beyond dispute, 
and hence the convictions by the magistrates. 
The investigation of these cases — in all there 
have been about 370 of them — has brought to 
light a curious revelation in connection with 
the pepper trade. Some months ago the spice 
grinders throughout England received a letter 
from a firm in Leghorn offering to supply them, 
at a low price, with an article which was de- 
scribed as poivrette, or pepperette, for admixture 
with pepper. It was obviously an adulterant, 
and, possessing none of the qualities of genuine 
pepper, could only be used for increasing the 
bulk and weight of the condiment, and so aug- 
menting the profits of those who resorted to its 
use. A large quantity of this potvrette appears to 
have been imported into London. The extent to 
which the adulteration was carried is illustrated 
by the fact that almost all samples of pepper 
submitted to recent examination disclosed the 
presence of this foreign ingredient. But for a 
long time the true character of j?)0«'yr^//^ remained 
a mystery. Under the microscope it had a close 
resemblance to pepper in color, appearance, and 
cells. It was hard and tasteless and was certain- 
ly not pepper, but beyond the fact that it was a 
dense ligneous substance, it baffled the skill of 
the analysts. The mystery was at last cleared up 
by Dr. Campbell Brown, public analyst for Lan- 
cashire, by a curious inspiration, as he has him- 
self explained. Numerous samples of pepper 
adulterated by this ligneous substance were un- 
der examination, and reflecting that olives were a 
home product of Leghorn, he thought the stones 
might be the adulterant. He had some olive 
stones ground, and the whole problem was 
solved. Poivrette wa.s simply and solely ground 
olive stones, and the hint once being given, all 
other analysts have confirmed the fact. It is need- 
less to say that olive stones in Italy are use- 
less refuse, and that they might readily be ground 
and sent to England at a low price. This was 
the trade that had sprung up at Leghorn, and 
which English spice grinders were utilizing for 
their own advantage. In his certificate produced 
during the recent prosecutions Dr. Campbell 



i8 



SAMUEL RAE & CO. — LEGHORN, TUSCANY. 



Brown describes pepperette as ''a hard, tasteless, 
woody substance, absolutely worthless, composed 
ofground olive stones, imported into this country 
from Italy and sold at id. per pound, lor the 
-express purpose of being used for fraudulently 
increasing the weight of pepper." When it is 
borne in mind that pepper is sold wholesale 
for about is. ^d. per pound, it is apparent that 
the admixture with it of a foreign substance 
costing only id. per pound must represent a 
substantial profit to those who use it. It would 
probably not be an exaggeration to say that 
a pepper grinder in a considerable way of busi- 
ness introducing fifteen percent, of the poivrette 
into his manufacture would net 6,000/. a year 
by the adulteration. It is not alleged that the 
foreign ingredient is deleterious to health, but 
ground olive stone is not pepper, and the person 
who buys and pays for pepper at the price of 
the genuine article is defrauded by the sophistica- 
tion. It is on this ground that the prosecutions 
have been instituted, and they have not been 
■without practical effect. It is now announced 
that the manufacture of poivrette at Leghorn has 
been discontinued, and that its importation into 
England has ceased. It is not a little suggestive, 
however, that it has just made its appearance in 
America, and that there is an evident desire to 
open the illegitimate trade on that side of the 
Atlantic. 



How Olive Oil is Clarified. 

The first pressing of the olives, as we 
haveseen, alone yields thefinest oil. But 
this oil in its natural state, as it passes from 
the grower's to the merchant's hands, 
contains in suspension a variable quantity 
of minute particles of the fruit as well 
as some little water. In this state it is 
cloudy and turbid, neither pleasingto the 
eye nor in fit condition for keeping. New 
oil must therefore be filtered, which is 
done by passing it several times through 
layers of carded cotton wool in a suita- 
bly arranged apparatus. The raw cotton 
must be absolutely free from any odor 
and the oil uncongealed. During winter, 
the season when most olive oil is pro- 
duced, it is necessary to warm it gently, 



which is best effected in a pan with a 
double bottom, or jacket, through which 
steam circulates. Contact with fire is 
thus avoided, and there is no danger of 
overheating or cooking the oil, which 
would spoil it. 

When perfectly bright and limpid, it 
is pumped into covered tanks for storage ; 
the best kind being of solid masonry 
lined with hard marble or glazed tiles ; 
these are made to hold as much as fifteen 
thousand gallons each. In such tanks 
the oil remains at an equable tempera- 
ture, and during the hottest weather is 
kept cool, which is an important con- 
sideration. 

An Erroneous Idea. 

An erroneous idea is prevalent that fine 
olive oil is the result of some refining 
process which renders it fit for consump- 
tion ; just as if common olive oil in the 
hands of a skillful refiner" would de- 
velop into a choice quality. This is an 
absurdity. Fine oil is the product ob- 
tained by pressing sound olives in a ra- 
tional manner, as described. Its quality 
is fixed, for good or bad, when it leaves 
the oil press ; it cannot be improved by 
any refining" ; but, of course, if not 
properly filtered and stored, it may de- 
teriorate. An eminent authority, Pro- 
fessor Cuppari, of theUniversity of Pisa, 
in his " Lessons on Agriculture," thus 
expresses this ftict : ''Olive oil is not 
likethe juice ofthe grape, whichrequires 
a chemical process to transform the su- 
gar it contains into alcohol in order that 
it may become wine ; the oil is there, 
ready made within the fruit, and the ut- 
most that can be done is to extract it, 
just as it is, bursting the cells within 
which it is inclosed by crushing the 
olives and then pressing them." 




RAZZO OLIVE. 



20 



SAMUEL RAE & CO. — LEGHORN, TUSCANY. 



Summing Up. 

To sum up, therefore, the finest olive 
oil is obtained only from the first press- 
ing of the olives ; but there are many 
other conditions to be fulfilled, failing 
any one of which the oil produced can- 
not attain to the finest quality. The 
fruit must be ripe and sound. It must be 
equally free from injury by frost or 
maggot. It must be freshly gathered 
and promptly pressed, before any fer- 
mentation can set in ; the water used 
during the process must be absolutely 
pure. The mills, presses, and utensils 
must be clean and sweet. The olives 
must be of the best kinds. 

It is therefore apparent that to unite 
all these conditions is no easy matter, 
considering also that few crops are lia- 
ble to such injury from weather and in- 
sects as the olive, which, moreover, is 
gathered chiefly during winter-time, the 
most unfavorable season of the year. 
Hence it is that so large a part of the 
olive oil produced in the world is of 
very inferior quality. 

Influence of Soil. 

But beyond and above all these con- 
ditions, the influence of soil and climate 
in the production of the finest qualities 
of olive oil must be taken into account. 
It is to this cause that are largely due 
the great differences in quality existing 
between olive oils produced in different 
localities. On this subject we take the 
following from the official ' ' Report upon 
the Conditions of Agriculture in Italy," 
drawn up by the Italian Ministry of 
Agriculture, Industry, and Commerce, a 
work in three quarto volumes, embrac- 

*Ministero di Agricoltura, Induslria e Com- 
mercio (Divisione di Agricoltura). — ''Relazione 



ing all the chief agricultural industries , 
of Italy, to which we are indebted for 
much valuable information. 

''There is hardly a doubt that the 
soil, according to its different composi- 
tion, hasan extraordinary influence on the 
quality of the products it yields, what- 
ever they may be ; and this influence, it 
appears, is more marked in the case of 
the olive-tree than in that of any other 
agricultural product. It is a known fact 
that the best oils are grown on a schist- 
ous formation where lime abounds ; and 
that, on the contrary, oil grown on clayey 
soils, or where the soil is too poor, never 
attains to a high degree of perfection 
however great be the attention paid. The 
different exposure and elevation of lo- 
calities, moreover, and even the degree 
of intensity of light, may to a certain 
extent contribute to render oil more or 
less good."* 

Too warm a climate, the Report goes 
on to say, is not favorable to developing 
delicacy in olive oil, but rather a temper- 
ate climate ; hence it is that oils produced 
in the Levant and the far south of Europe 
are not as good as the oils produced in 
Italy, and that amongst the latter those 
of Tuscany, Umbria, and the Riviera are 
of much greater merit than those of 
Sicily, and, generally speaking, of the 
Neapolitan Provinces, i. e., the southern 
section of Italy. 

The influence of climate and soil on 
the quality of olive oil, in our opinion, 
which is confirmed by the foregoing ex- 
tract, cannot be exaggerated. To any 
one at all versed in the article, the 
difference between Tuscan olive oil and 
that produced in the districts of Bari, 
Umbria, or Riviera is most marked. It 
is impossible to mistake one for the 

intorno alle Condizioni dell' Agricoltura." Vol. 
I., page 587. 



SAMUEL RAE & CO. LEGHORN, TUSCANY. 



21 



Other ; and while other considerations 
partially account for these differences, 
they are chiefly due to the influence of 
the soil. Thus, it has been observed on 
the same estate that oil produced from 
trees growing on a clayey soil is very 
much inferior to that obtained from 
trees growing on a different formation 
on the opposite side of the same hill. 

Selection of Fine Oils. 

While in Tuscany there are districts 
famed for their olive oil, it is not to be 
supposed that all the oil produced there- 
in is of equal merit or excellence, dual- 
ities vary even in the same locality, and 
hence the need for a careful selection in 
order to arrive at the highest possible 
standard of excellence. 

An olive farm famed for its produce 
may one year make oil of splendid qual- 
ity ; the next year the reverse may be 
the case. The olive-fly is very capricious 
in its ravages, and the warmer expos- 
ure of an olive plantation may lead to all 
the fruit being ruined by this fly, while 
not a mile away another plantation in a 
less sheltered situation may escape such 
damage. 

The same is the case with regard to 
frost ; severe, damp cold may injure 
the fruit in a low-lying locality, while 
close by, but higher up, the fruit may 
be uninjured. 

Hence, in selecting the finest qualities 
of olive oil it is not by any means suffi- 
cient to know in what locality the oil has 
been grown. The ultimate test of quality 
is the palate, and to be a good taster 
of olive oil requires a nice, discriminat- 
ing palate and long practice. Of course 
if olive oil is of dark color, or possesses 
the least bad odor, it is condemned at 
once. But even when free from objec- 



tion on both points, the palate may re- 
veal some fatal defect, due either to the 
condition of the fruit or the process of 
expressing the oil ; or else the oil may 
simply be made from an inferior class 
of olives, and therefore of a second rate 
quality. Olive oil is tasted by itself, pure 
and simple. 

According to Professor Bain, an au- 
thority on the subject, it has been as- 
certained that while the tip of the tongue 
discriminates between pungent tastes, 
such as pepper and mustard, and the 
central part as to sweets and bitters, the 
seat of those peculiar tastes, to which 
the professor has given the names of 
relishes, and disgusts, is the back part 
of the tongue and throat. It is here 
chiefly that fats, butters, and oils can 
be properly tasted. 

If olive oil of very inferior quality, 
tainted and rancid, continues to be largely 
sold in America as being the very best, 
and paid for proportionately, this can 
only be because consumers do not taste 
it in the proper way, by itself, before 
using it. There is no great difficulty in 
determining whether olive oil is pleas- 
ant to the taste, or the reverse. But if in 
a salad-dressing it be overpowered by 
fiery condiments, bad olive oil often may 
escape detection. 

How LONG Fine Oil Keeps Good. 

Fine olive oil is not improved by age, 
like wine. But while inferior qualities 
become infinitely worse by keeping, the 
best Tuscan oil, properly kept, will re- 
tain its sweetness and freshness for 
fully two years from the time it was 
made. Here it may be remarked that 
fine oil undoubtedly retains its good 
qualities longer when it is exported in 
bottles, than in tin cans or in casks. 



22 



SAMUEL RAE & CO. 



LEGHORN, TUSCANY. 



Glass can communicate no bad taste to 
it, but tin and wood are both liable to 
do so. in course of time. 

Sedlment in Bottles. 

Occasionally, new olive oil, when 
bottled early in the season, although 
most carefully filtered, will deposit a 
little sediment in bottles. The sedi- 
ment merely consists of very minute 
particles of the fruit ; though not pleas- 
ing to the eye, it ought to be generally 
known that this sediment has no im- 
portance whatever, and proves abso- 
lutely nothing against either the purity 
or the excellence of the oil in question. 

Effects of Cold. 

Fine olive oil under the influence 
of cold loses its brightness and turns 
cloudy ; often, though it continues to be 
fluid, flakes aretobeseen floating about, 
the appearance of which in bottled oil 
has sometimes given rise to unfounded 
suspicions. The effect of a low tem- 
perature is to separate, temporarily, 
some of the constituent parts of olive 
oil ; hence the flakes. But this natural 
phenomenon is of no moment what- 
ever ; on warming the contents of a 
bottle in which these flakes are visible, 
it will be remarked that they disappear 
and that the oil resumes its brightness. 

Adulteration. 

Great scope for adulteration is offered 
in the number of cheap vegetable oils 
which can be profitably employed for 
the purpose, such as cotton-seed, 
ground-nut, sesame, and colza oils. Of 
these, cotton-seed and ground-nut oils 
are probably more generally used, and 



in Italy, cotton-seed oil. To check the 
practice, a customs duty of 14 lire per 
100 kilograms was imposed in Italy on 
this oil. 

Adulteration is not by any means 
confined to Italy. Seed oils of various 
kinds are largely imported as well as 
made in France. There are factories at 
Marseilles and Bordeaux where oil is 
extracted from African ground-nuts, 
arachidcs, of which there is an enor- 
mous importation. Not only is this oil 
used to adulterate olive oil, but it is said 
to be used, to some extent, as a sub- 
stitute for it, in packing cheap brands 
of sardines. 

In the United States it is a fact that 
olive oil, imported in casks, is there 
mixed with cotton-seed oil and retailed 
as pure olive. 

Adulteration of butter has been al- 
ready dealt with by Congress, and in 
course of time it is hoped that every- 
where the adulteration of articles of food 
will be put down. Even in Turkey 
action has been taken, as the following 
extract shows : 

Adulterated Olive Oil. — The Secretary of 
State has received a dispatch from Mr. Pendleton 
King, charge d'affaires ad interim of this gov- 
ernment at Constantinople, of December 14, 
1 886, saying that the Sublime Porte had decided, 
on the recommendation of the Council of State, 
in order to prevent the sale of adulterated olive 
oil, which is sold to the detriment of the public 
health, to have that commodity examined by 
inspectors appointed from the Imperial Faculty 
of Medicine, and by municipal agents, and to 
confiscate the oils v^hich are mixed with cotton 
oil or with any other pernicious substance. 

One fact, however, which must be 
especially noted, is that adulteration is 
confined to low qualities of olive oil. 

It will not pay to adulterate fine olive 
oil, for the quality would be irretrieva- 
bly ruined, and it would then sell only 



OLIVE FARM NEAR MONTEMAGNO. 



24 



SAMUEL RAE & CO. LEGHORN, TUSCANY. 



at the price of common oil. Olive oil 
of really fine quality is so delicate that 
the addition of as little as one per cent, 
of its volume of cotton-seed, or other 
such oil, a quantity far too small to pay, 
can be easily detected by the taste. 
Such oil is ruined, degraded in fact, and 
acquires the unmistakable twang of 
cotton-seed oil. However highly refined 
the latter may be, it is rank and nau- 
seous compared with good olive oil. 

Common olive oil, which is more or 
less fetid, can hardly be made much 
worse, so far as the taste is concerned, 
by being adulterated ; and this is the 
kind of oil which is adulterated. It is 
necessary to add that in Tuscany, as gen- 
erally throughout Italy, olive oil grow- 
ers never attempt any adulteration of 
their produce, but rather are anxious 
that the practice should be put down by 
law, as contrary to their interests ; and 
such it undoubtedly is. 

As to the export trade in fine olive 
oil, it is certain that the brand of a firm 
of long standing and high repute affords 
the best guarantee of purity and genu- 
ineness. Hence, the difficulty some- 
times alleged of obtaining Tuscan olive 
oil of equal purity and excellence is 
exaggerated. 

Where is the Finest Olive Oil Grown? 

In Italy the finer qualities of olive oil 
are produced in the districts of Bari, on 
the south-east shore of the Adriatic, Um- 
bria in central Italy, Tuscany, and Ligu- 
ria, the latter including the districts of 
Genoa and Porto Maurizio — the Riviera, 
it is generally called. 

The chief olive oil producing districts 

* Emile Negrin. Guide de Nice," 1874. 
^'As to the oil of Aix, it is a joke in- 
vented against the inhabitants of Aix : when 



of France are Nice and Provence (Alpes- 
Maritimes, Bouches-du-Rhone, and Var; 
the produce of Provence being frequent- 
ly called Aix oil. 

A French writer thus alludes in jest 
to Aix oil: "Quant a I'huile d'Aix, 
c'est une plaisanterie inventee contre les 
Aixois : pendant que je faisais mon 
cours de droit a Aix, je n'y ai vu que 
quelques oliviers, gros comme des 
chous de Bruxelles." * 

Nice oil resembles in character the 
produce of the adjacent district of the 
Riviera, Italy, sometimes called the 
Genoa district, and is superior to the oil 
of Provence or Aix. The reason is not 
far to seek. Most of the olives in Pro- 
vence, owing to the special conditions 
of the locality, are of an inferior class ; 
chiefly of the Moraiolo variety, which, 
as we had occasion to explain in treat- 
ing of the different varieties of the olive- 
tree, most approximates to the wild 
olive. 

Provence oil has been much bepraised 
by interested persons ; but any repu- 
tation it may have acquired in places 
where little is known on the subject of 
fine olive oil is purely fictitious and 
destitute of real foundation. 

No olive oil produced elsewhere in 
Italy, or in any part of France, can com- 
pare with the best Tuscan oil which 
it is the privilege of the neighboring 
provinces of Lucca and Pisa to produce. 
The other sections of Tuscany, namely, 
Florence, Siena, and Grosseto, produce 
good qualities, but not equal to the oils 
of Lucca and Pisa. 

In these favored districts the hills, up 
to a certain altitude, and where the sit- 
uation is favorable, are clothed with fine 

1 was attending a course of law at Aix, 1 saw 
there only a few olive-trees as big as Brussels 
sprouts. " 



SAMUEL RAE & CO. — LEGHORN, TUSCANY. 



25 



olive-trees of the best kinds, the Ra:(^io 
olive Largely prevailing. There is an 
ample supply of pure spring water, and, 
moreover, the greatest attention is de- 
voted to the culture of the trees and to 
the process of oil-making. But there 
can be no question that the special ex- 
cellence of the oils grown here is largely 
due to the influence of the soil. 

The produce of these two districts 
(which is generally called Liicca Oil, 
though in this matter Pisa is fully on a 
par with the sister province), when of 
the best quality, is distinguished by its 
fine golden color and delicate taste. It 
is absolutely free from any tainted smell 
or tendency to rancidness, and will re- 
tain its freshness and sweetness longer 
than any other growth of olive oil. 

The respective merits of different 
growths of olive oil is a subject of con- 
troversy amongst rival growers and 
exporters ; still, it is hardly to be won- 
dered at if each district claims the supe- 
riority for its own produce. 

As regards the oils exported from 
France, in the main, they are not of 
French, but of Italian origin. France im- 
ports some five or six million gallons 
a year of Italian olive oil ; her own pro- 
duction is small and quite inadequate 
to supply the home market. Moreover, 
to those who are connoisseurs of the 
article and acquainted with the various 
growths of Italy, the fact is patent that 
the greater part of such so-called French 
oil is simply Bari and Riviera oil. It is 
at least a curious coincidence that much 
of the olive oil in bottles exported to the 
United States from France is simply 
called ''olive oil" on the labels, with- 
out anything being specified as to its 
origin. 

The chief demand in France is for 
the oils of the districts of Bari and the 



Riviera (Genoa), which are very much 
cheaper than those of Tuscany and just 
as much inferior. But it is a suggest- 
ive fact, which admits of proof, that 
buyers from Aix in Provence, France, 
actually come to Tuscany every year 
to make their purchases of fine Tuscan 
oil. These buyers are well aware that 
neither in their own district, the depart- 
ment of Var, nor in any other section 
of France, is there any olive oil pro- 
duced which will compare with good 
Tuscan oil. 

We have seen it stated in the circu- 
lars and announcements of those en- 
gaged in the trade, that the olive oil 
exported from Bordeaux is produced 
either in Provence or the districts of 
Nice and Genoa ; and that these are 
the finest oils in the world ; as for 
Tuscan oils, they are nowhere in 
comparison. 

The same statements are repeated in 
a recent Report from the United States 
Consulate at Bordeaux, on '' Bordeaux 
Olive Oil." It says: " Most of the olive 
oils exported from this consular district 
come from the department of Var, in 
south-eastern France, and the country 
surrounding Genoa, Italy, and are re- 
spectively known as the ' huile d'Aix ' 
and 'huile de Nice.' Large quantities 
of olive oil are produced in Tuscany, 
but, owing to the quality, find little 
demand on this market." 

As to the latter statement, it may be 
remarked that buyers in America, or 
other countries, when they want Tus- 
can olive oil, go to the fountain-head 
for it, to Leghorn, the seaport of Tus- 
cany, whence all its products are ex- 
ported direct, and not to Bordeaux. 
But it is sufficiently curious that Genoa 
oil should actually be conveyed to Bor- 
deaux, only to be re-exported thence, 



26 



SAMUEL RAE & CO. — LEGHORN, TUSCANY. 



charged with unnecessary extra freight- 
age and several intermediate profits. 

It is interesting and instructive, how- 
ever, to note that the oil of the district 
of Genoa, and that produced in France, 
are considered at Bordeaux of equal 
merit. The circumstance before re- 
ferred to, that much of the olive oil ex- 
ported from Bordeaux, and of the most 
reputed brands, bears no indication on 
the labels of the bottles as to where it 
was grown, confirms this view; for, 
obviously, the contents may be, indif- 
ferently, Genoa oil or French oil. 

This being so, we shall show on un- 
questionable authority that Genoa oil 
(and therefore Nice and Provence oil, 
also) is inferior to the best Tuscan oil. 
And such an authority we conceive to 
be the official " Report upon the Con- 
ditions of Agriculture " in Italy, drawn 
up by the Ministry of Agriculture, In- 
dustry, and Commerce (Bureau of Agri- 
culture), from which we have before 
quoted. Seeing that both the oil of 
the district of Genoa and of Tuscany 
are Italian products, it would hardly be 
possible to quote a higher, a more un- 
biased, or disinterested authority as to 

* Ministero di Agricoltura, Industria e Com- 
mercio (Divisione di Agricoltura). — " Relazione 
intorno alle Condizioni dell' Agricoltura." Vol. 
I., page 409 : Gli olii piu celebrati per la 
loro finezza sono quelli di Calci e di Buti 
nelle colline pisane e quelli di Lucca, che giusta- 



their comparative merits than the ITAL- 
IAN STATE DEPARTMENT OF 
AGRICULTURE. Against this the un- 
supported assertions of Bordeaux ex- 
porters will not carry much weight. 

This official publication states that: 
' ' The oils most celebrated for their ex- 
cellence are those of CALCI and BUTI 
on the Pisa hills, and those of LUCCA 
(viz., the most noted districts of TUS- 
CANY), which jmtly enjoy the very high- 
est repute in foreign countries ; next to 
these come, generally speaking, the oils 
of nearly the whole of Tuscany, of Bari, 
the environs of Lake Thrasimenus 
(Umbria), and of some parts of Liguria 
(Genoa district)." And again in another 
passage: -THE TUSCAN OILS OF 
LUCCA, CALCI, AND BUTI ARE ES- 
TEEMED THE FINEST IN THE 
WORLD."* 

This disposes of the question. 

We need only add that if consumers 
make sure that they are really getting 
the best LUCCA OIL, they will soon 
satisfy themselves that it is, without 
exception, THE FINEST OLIVE OIL 
IN THE WORLD. 



mente godono di grandissima fama all'estero. A 
questi poi si accostano in generalegli olii di quasi 
tutta la Toscana, del Barese, dei contorni del Lago 
Trasimeno e di alcune parti della Liguria." lb. 
p. 587 : " Gli olii Toscani di Lucca, di Calci e 
di Buti, sono stimati i primi olii del mondo." 



REZZANO, NEAR CALCI. 



The following extract is taken from 
a report, by the Secretary of Her Maj- 
esty's embassy at Rome, on the Wine 
and Olive Oil Industries of Italy, which 
appeared in the official ''Board of Trade 
Journal,'' February, 1887: 

The finest olive oil, not only in Italy but 
in the world, is produced in certain hilly dis- 
tricts of Tuscany, such as Lucca, Calci, and Buti. 
There the olive-trees are of the best stock and 
carefully tended ; great care is also devoted to 
harvesting the olives and to crushing and press- 
ing them. The oil so obtained, pure and unso- 
phisticated, which I had the opportunity of tasting 
during a recent visit to Tuscany, is most delicate 
and delicious. But in these days of excessive 
competition, when quality is often sacrificed to 
cheapness, it is not always an easy matter to 
procure the best quality of Tuscan, or Lucca, oil, 



as it is generally called out of Tuscany, Still 
it is to be had, and I may mention that large 
quantities are exported to England and the 
United States. 

**The purity of the oil has been recognized at 
my table, even by Italians in Rome." (The 
Lucca oil here referred to was supplied hjp S. 
Rae & Co.) 



Her Majesty's Consul at Leghorn, Italy, in 
his reports on trade to the Secretary of State for 
Foreign Affairs, London, England, states that S. 
Rae & Co. have supplied their Lucca Olive Oil 
to the chief importers in London for the last 
forty years, and adds: ''/^ maj> ie satisfactory 
to the public to know the source of the very best 

EATING OIL AND THE HIGH CHARACTER it Undoubtedly 

enjoys in theplace of its production.^'' 

(See "Reports from Her Majesty's Consuls," 
No. 6, 1885, Part III.) 



GENUINE TUSCAN OLIVE OIL 

OF THE FINEST QUALITY PRODUCED 



S. RAE & CO S 

FINEST SUBLIME 

LUCCA OIL 

IS A SELECTION FROM 
THE BEST GROWTHS OF THE LUCCA AND PISA DISTRICTS (TUSCANY), 
AND IS WARRANTED PURE OLIVE OIL 



S. RAE & CO. 

ESTABLISHED 1836 

LEGHORN, TUSCANY, ITALY 



Wholesale Agents 

FRANCIS H. LEGGETT & CO. 

IMPORTERS, JOBBING GROCERS, MANUFACTURERS AND PACKERS OF 

PURE FOOD specialties 

WEST BROADWAY, FRANKLIN & VARICK STS. NEW-YORK, U. S. A. 



Rae's Oil can be had from any first-class grocer. If your grocer does not handle 
it, please send tis a postal card, and we will send to a retail grocer, 
who will deliver same to your residence 



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